Communicative Competence

1. BACKGROUND

1.1. GRAMMATICAL AND COMMUNICATIVE APPROACHES

- Page 2, paragraph 1: Differences between Grammatical Approach and Communicative (functional/notional) Approach.

- Page 2, paragraph 2: Explanation about Situational Syllabus

- Page 3, paragraph 1: Approach referring to principles of syllabus construction and not as classroom teaching or materials

1.2. COMPETENCE AND PERFORMANCE

- Page 3, paragraph 2: General distinction between the terms: competence and performance

- Page 3, paragraph 3: General objectives of: Theory of competence and Theory of performance

- Page 4, paragraph 1: Importance of appropriateness in the speech (mixture of competence and performance)

- Page 4, paragraph 2: Distinction between communicative competence (grammar + context) and performance

- Page 5, paragraph 1: Questioning the relation between CC (communicative competence)/ GC (grammatical competence)/ CP (communicative performance):

                a) Page 5, paragraph 2: GC is an essential component of CC

                b) Page 5, paragraph 3: Sociolinguistic competence related to communicative competence and not communicative performance

- Page 6, paragraph 1: Summary: Communicative competence = grammatical competence + sociolinguistic competence

- Page 6, paragraph 2: Determine general principles in a Communicative Competence syllabus: knowledge in real situations in order to reach authentic communication purposes.

- Page 6, paragraph 3: CC viewed as a subcomponent of a more general language competence

- Page 7, paragraph 1: Reasons for not including ability for use in CC

- Page 8, paragraph 1: Inviting to continue investigating about the topic

2. SOME THEORIES OF COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE

2.1. THEORIES OF BASIC COMMUNICATION SKILLS

- Page 8, paragraph 2: Introduction to theories of Communicative Competence

- Page 9, paragraph 1: Theories of basic communication skills: be able to get the meaning across

- Page 9, paragraph 2: Give examples of the skills involved in the theories of communication skills

- Page 9, paragraph 3: Van Ek´s model: identify factors involved in BCS

- Page 10, paragraph 2: Analysis of threshold level/minimum level of skills is necessary to communicate

- Page 10, paragraph 3: Emphasis on meaning rather than grammaticalness

- Page 11, paragraph 1: Early stages of adolescent and adult learning: give attention to grammar as well

- Page 12, paragraph 1: Young learners acquire adequate knowledge of appropriateness for the BCS thanks to their L1

- Page 12, paragraph 2: Tolerance to grammatical and sociocultural inaccuracies

- Page 12, paragraph 3: Introduction to two different data courses: grammatical competence vs. communicative competence

- Page 12, paragraph 4: Studies where it is demonstrate the relevance to teach communicative tasks rather than grammatical tasks (adding one hour of specific communicative task)

- Page 13, paragraph 1: Study showing that grammatical competence is not a good predictor of communicative skills

- Page 13, paragraph 3: General conclusion: grammatical competence does not lead to a communicative competence

- Page 13, paragraph 4: Communicative competence has to be related to syllabus and teaching, not only to tests programs or materials

- Page 14, paragraph 1: Introduction to Theories of basic communication skills summary

- Page 14, paragraph 2: Aspects of GC should be taught in the context of meaningful communication

- Page 15, paragraph 1: Combination on grammatical accuracy and on meaningful communication (according to learner needs)

- Page 15, paragraph 2: Use of communicative approach leads to acquire basic communication skills (including grammatical competence)

2.2. SOCIOLINGUISTIC PERSPECTIVES ON COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE

- Page 15, paragraph 3: CC from sociolinguistic perspectives is more theoretical

- Page 15, paragraph 4: Introduction to Theory of communicative competence and Analysis of the ethnography of speaking

- Page 15, paragraph 5: New view and component of CC

- Page 16, paragraph 1: Ethnography of speaking: factors and rules involved in the structure of speaking/communication

- Page 17, paragraph 1: Components of the speech event

- Page 17, paragraph 2: Component´s interaction and its relation with the analysis of rules and social meaning

- Page 17, paragraph 3: Sociosemantic aspects of language and language use: behavioral options, semantic options and grammatical options.

- Page 18, paragraph 1: Direction of influence between the three levels of options

- Page 18, paragraph 2: Perspective on second language learning: relation between the 3 options

- Page 19, paragraph 1: Relation between semantic options (what is meant) and social behavior options (what speakers can do)

- Page 19, paragraph 2: How interaction of social context, grammar and meaning influence a Communicative Approach

2.3 INTEGRATIVE THEORIES OF COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE

- Page 19, paragraph 3: General ideas of an integrative theory of communicative competence

- Page 20, paragraph 1: Munby´s Model of CC: sociocultural orientation + sociosemantic view of linguistic knowledge + rules of discourse

- Page 20, paragraph 2: Discourse components: Distinction between cohesion and coherence

- Page 21, paragraph 1: Discourse views from a literature analysis (factors)

- Page 21, paragraph 3: Sequence of grammatical forms to reach the sociosemantic component

- Page 22, paragraph 1: How to combine grammar and communication skills

- Page 22, paragraph 2: Aspects of grammar in communicative approaches: some are based on functions, others aren’t still organized

- Page 22, paragraph 1: Introduction to the overemphasis on communicative functions in communicative syllabus organization

- Page 23, paragraph 2: First argument: concern that language is communication

- Page 23, paragraph 3: Second argument: grammatical form follows CC

- Page 24, paragraph 1: Third argument: To concerned with language use instead of grammatical usage. Nonetheless grammatical usage has to be seen from a meaningful context.

- Page 24, paragraph 2: Invites to think about grammatical forms and communicative function related to learner´s sociolinguistic needs

2.3 GENERAL COMMENTS

- Page 25, paragraph 1: Introduce to the conclusions about theories of Communicative Competence

- Page 25, paragraph 2: First conclusion: Develop the idea of communication strategies to handle difficulties in communication

- Page 25, paragraph 3: Second conclusion: Develop the sequence of communicative functions

- Page 25, paragraph 4: Third conclusion: Develop the way of evaluating (criteria and levels of achievement)

- Page 26, paragraph 1: Explanation that the evaluation topic will be defined in deeper in the following chapter

Section 3 is missing... I will continue :)

My Approach Indicator

I have been teaching since last year and have done internships at the university. For me teaching has to be focused on meaning. I think it is the same process as we learn our L1, developing the four skills we will learn how to produce on a correct way. If we provide good input, students will naturally learn grammar structures. Once they are aware that meaning goes beyond grammar, they will understand that reading a text is focus on meaning, listening to a conversation is focus on meaning, by writing and speaking the goal is to make you understood.

Taking this idea, I believe we have to give special attention to fluency, once they feel confident on speaking; they have to start improving accuracy. But the first stage is to speak, no matter how well the performance is. My students are learning English since this year, so during my classes I make them speak but I do not correct them, because of what I already said.

Following the points before mentioned, language classroom should have plenty meaningful learning. As a teacher, I have to provide not only meaningful activities, but also consider in my teaching practice high quality activities. Looking for good resources is vital nowadays, because there are too much, and it is our work to discriminate which one is good and pertinent for the students.

I have confirmed, by seen it during this year that it is a must to teach in a variety of ways in order to make learning available to each student. Students have different learning styles, some of them prefer visual activities, or auditory, or kinesthetic. 

Methods: a brief summay

The Audiolingual Method

During the World War II there was a need to know the languages of the allies and enemies. Therefore USA started to prepare people in order that they could communicate themselves orally. ALM deals with oral activities presented in dialog form (pronunciation, drilling, structural patterns, tapes, etc.). Teachers used only L2 in classes and there weren’t any grammar explanation.

Community Language Learning

It is totally an affectively based method. It purposes is to make the student feel relax, comfortable with their pairs and teacher, have good relation with others and building a context where value and price are the main points. Teachers are the center of learning, as the students learn to speak they say it in their L1, the teacher translates it and after that the student repeats it in English. At the beginning there is a total dependence from part of the students, but they move to independence when they reach more vocabulary and are able to talk in English and don´t need the teachers help.

Suggestopedia

The main idea is that the human brain works better when the learner is in a relaxed state and when the right conditions are given. Music is very important in this method because it was the way to make them feel relaxed; they also sat on comfortable seats. The activities were based on readings, role plays, drama and presentation of vocabulary.

The Silent Way

It relies more on the cognitive process. Learners have to discover by themselves and find solutions for the given problems. The teacher has a stimulator role, but he/she doesn’t speak too much. Tha teacher shows them Cuisinere rods and apply the meaning of them with a colorful wall chart. Using the rods they learn vocabulary and syntax.

Total Physical Response

It is associated with physical/motor activities. The idea is to learn as children, they listen before speak and as they listen they can respond in a physical manner. The method is focused on listening and acting activities, using lots of imperatives (“Walk to your seat”).

The Natural Approach

The most relevant elements in language acquisition are to provide comprehensible input. The activities are focused on affective-humanistic factors to decrease the affective filter, in order to facilitate communication in their daily life.